Another move made to change police uniform

The Sindh police department has once again moved a summary to the Sindh government for its approval to change the uniform of Sindh police.

Talking to The News, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Headquarters Abdul Khalique Shaikh said a summary had been sent to the Sindh government in this regard by the DIG operations.

He said the total strength of the Sindh police was 160,000 and before deciding to change the uniform, they had reviewed the practices of other provinces and selected some units of the Sindh police, including the traffic police, the Sindh Reserve Police (SRP) and the Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA) Karachi for uniform change.

DIG Shaikh said as an experiment, the personnel of the selected units would be provided new uniforms for a period of six months, after which they would be asked whether they felt comfortable in the new attire and what they felt when they wore it in hot and cold weather. They would also be asked whether the new uniform was easily washable.

The officer said it had been decided that if the personnel found the new uniform comfortable and washable, the uniform of the entire police would be changed.

The summary sent to the Sindh government read: “The DIG Operations Karachi has informed that the Honourable Chief Minister Sindh has approved the proposal of Sindh Police regarding replacement of Police Personnel Uniform in a meeting held under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister on February-2, 2019. The Inspector General of Police Sindh presented the proposed uniform to the competent authority in the said meeting. “

According to the summary, in the first phase, the police intended to replace uniforms of their officials and officers of the Central Police Office, forensic division, traffic police, CIA and Anti-Riot Force in the financial year 2018-19 for which the already allocated funds would be utilised and there would be no need for extra money. However, to change the uniform of the entire police department, a separate proposal would be presented to the finance department in due course of time.

“It is therefore proposed that the Honourable Chief Minister Sindh may like to approve the proposal submitted by the Police Department for replacement of police uniform. In this context, it is submitted that fabric, design and stitching quality of proposed new police uniform has been improved to shape it up to the mark. This improvement and escalation in dollar price may cause increase in price by 60 per cent,” the summary read.

The new uniform includes white shirts for the traffic police, blue shirts for the district police, navy blue trousers for the district and traffic police, blue polo shirt for the traffic police, white polo shirt for the traffic police and web belts for the Sindh police.